Matsuzaka dominates as Red Sox drop Mariners

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- J.D. Drew homered and drove in two runs to
help Daisuke Matsuzaka to his 11th win as the Boston Red Sox
defeated the Seattle Mariners, 4-2, on Tuesday night for their
second consecutive road victory.

Matsuzaka (11-1) extended his personal scoreless streak to 24
1/3 innings before the Mariners reached him for two runs in the
eighth.

Matsuzaka was charged with two runs and five hits while striking
out six and walking three in 7 1/3 innings. He had allowed a
total of just one earned run in his previous four starts.

"I thought he threw his fastball well, and he didn't let them
back into counts," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "I think
the rest has done him really well. He's given up so few hits.
He's made it harder with his command. He keeps winning. He
threw the ball well."

The Mariners, losers of four straight, had failed to score
against the Red Sox for 23 consecutive innings before the
eighth.

"We didn't get to (Matsuzaka) early in the ballgame," Mariners
manager Jim Riggleman said. "Whether that's because we're
swinging at too many pitches or what. He's throwing strikes.
He's getting his breaking ball over. He was on top of his game
pretty good, and we just didn't get to him until late."

Boston held a 4-0 lead when rookie Bryan LaHair led off the
inning with a single for his first major league hit. All-Star
Ichiro Suzuki plated him with a one-out double and Jose Lopez
followed with an RBI single to center, halving the deficit.

Hideki Okajima relieved Matsuzaka and got Raul Ibanez to ground
into a fielder's choice and Jose Vidro to fly out, ending the
frame.

All-Star Jonathan Papelbon worked a perfect ninth inning for his
30th save, becoming the first pitcher in Red Sox history to
record 30 or more saves in three consecutive seasons.

"If I wasn't able to throw a complete game tonight, I don't know
when I'm going to be able to do it," said Matsuzaka, who has
just one in 49 starts since joining the team last year.

Catcher and team captain Jason Varitek said the pitching has
helped the club break out of it post-break mini-slump, which saw
it lose three in a row to Anaheim.

"It's been two really good starts, and this team needed it,"
Varitek said. "(Matsuzaka) had better command and he was able
to entice some ground balls. He threw a lot of different tilts
with his cutter and his four-seamer and got a mix of all of his
pitches. And he was strike one, for the most part."

Mariners starter R.A Dickey (2-5) made it through six innings
but left after giving up a leadoff single in the seventh. The
33-year-old knuckleballer was tagged for four runs, nine hits
and three walks without recording a strikeout.

"I had a pretty good knuckleball. (It) might not have been a
swing-and-miss knuckleball, but they were pretty patient,"
Dickey said. "They waited on pitches to hit. I gave up nine
hits, five of them were non-knuckleball pitches, so I got a
little bit too aggressive with my fastball tonight."

After Drew's 18th homer in the first opened the scoring, Boston
tacked on three more runs in the fifth for a 4-0 lead.

Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a bunt single, took third on Dustin
Pedroia's base hit and scored on Drew's sacrifice fly. Manny
Ramirez followed with a single to extend his hitting streak to
11 games, and Mike Lowell delivered an RBI double.

Jed Lowrie's sacrifice fly accounted for the final run in the
inning.

Pedroia's hit gave him a 23-game road hitting streak, one shy of
the Red Sox record set by Nomar Garciaparra in 1998.